1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable communication terminal, such as a DMB phone, a game phone, a chatting phone, a camera phone, an MP3 phone, a cellular phone, a PCS, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a Hand Held Phone (HHP), and the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to a semi-automatic sliding device for a portable communication terminal and a portable communication terminal having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A portable communication terminal is an electronic device that a user can carry to perform wireless communication with another user. Examples of wireless communication include functions such as voice communication, message sending, file sending, image communication, camera functions and the like. Additionally, a portable communication terminal can serve as a personal secretary that manages telephone numbers personal schedules, and the like.
In consideration of portability, portable terminals have been designed to be compact, slim, easy to hold and light. Furthermore, portable terminals have been designed to provide multimedia capabilities to allow a user to pursue a wide variety of functions. For example, entertainment content including games and other forms of entertainment are an important function of portable communication terminals. In the future, it is expected that portable communication terminals will continue to be complicated devices having multiple functions, including image communication, games, Internet access, a camera, as well as simple voice communication.
Conventional portable terminals may be classified into various types according to their appearance, such as bar-type portable terminals and folder-type portable terminals. A bar-type portable communication terminal has a single housing shaped like a bar on which an input/output unit, an antenna unit, a transmitter/receiver, and the like are mounted. A folder-type portable terminal has a folder connected to a bar-type single housing by a hinge device in such a manner that the folder can be rotated to fold on or unfold from the housing.
Portable communication terminals may also be classified as rotatable-type communication terminals or sliding-type communication terminals according to the method of opening and closing the terminals. In a rotatable-type communication terminal, two housings are coupled to each other in a manner that one housing rotates to open or close the other housing while the housings face each other. In a sliding-type communication terminal, two housings are coupled to each other in a manner that one housing slides to open or close the other housing.
In a sliding-type portable communication terminal, one housing (the sliding housing) is coupled to another housing (the body housing) by a sliding unit. To couple the sliding housing to the body housing, a sliding device is mounted between the sliding housing and the body housing.
An example of a sliding device that allows a sliding housing to slide in one direction with respect to the body housing (that is, a one-directional sliding device) is disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 2002-71911, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
It is difficult to make the sliding device disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 2002-71911 slim and it requires many assembly components, thereby increasing manufacturing costs. Further, the number of manufacturing processes is increased due to the increase of the number of parts. In addition, the weight of the portable terminal is increased due to the increase in the number of parts, thereby degrading portability of the portable terminal.
An example of a sliding device that allows a sliding housing to slide in two directions with respect to the body housing (that is, a two-directional sliding device) is disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 2005-70904, which is assigned to the assignee of the present applicant.
The sliding device disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 2005-70904 has many of the same drawbacks as the previously discussed device. For example, it is also difficult to make slim and requires many assembly components, thereby increasing manufacturing costs, the number of manufacturing processes, and the weight of the portable terminal.